A friend suggested to me a few years ago that I should teach English in Italy. I told him I know only a little Italian so I could never do it. Amazingly, he claimed that wouldn't be an issue. Sorry, I still don't buy it. I think it's one of those "see it/experience it to believe it" things.

Surely most Italian kids know at least some English.

Given some of the people I am currently teaching (I'm currently in the whole Teaching English as a foreign language gig) and am living in college accomodation surrounded by Italian teenagers (Don't get me started...), I wouldn't be too sure about that. Though that might depend how you define 'some'.

Though you can definitely teach English in Southern Europe without prior knowledge of the host country's language. I'm living proof of that - but I wouldn't recommend it.

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Keith R Laws ‏@Keith_Laws Feb 4As I have noted before 'paradigm shift' is an anagram of 'grasp dim faith'

I know plenty of Italian teens know English. All of my friends know at least a fair amount. That doesn't make me comfortable to teach them more. Things have to be explained in their native language.

Grammar and so on is best taught in the language you're trying to teach itself. (And when teaching modern languages it's always advisable to be very sparse with superfluous grammatical information. Most people pick up the basics easily enough when you immerse them deeply enoough in the language as it's spoken and written.)

Would you definitely have to be a native speaker in order to be capable of embarking on such a 'career', though?

In Southern Europe, yes afaik. Though I have heard stories of Dutch people and Scandinavians being hired in places like Thailand and other parts of Asia (However, only by 'private institutes' which often are dodgy places where very little 'teaching' goes on. I suspect Opebo knows more about this than I).

Once students have an above basic grasping of the rudiments of English grammar and vocabulary (ie. About 'B1' on the CEFRL, it isn't too difficult to explain things through English. You can, of course, teach solely through English for basic levels but it is much more difficult (imho). Also, what Belgian said.

The real reason, though, I wouldn't recommend teaching in Italy is that I assume it is like teaching in Spain. And in Spain, the facilities and staff support I got were almost non-existent which lead to, as you can imagine, problems... (Lots of good stories about that, actually).

« Last Edit: August 11, 2012, 05:47:20 pm by Iatrogenesis »

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Keith R Laws ‏@Keith_Laws Feb 4As I have noted before 'paradigm shift' is an anagram of 'grasp dim faith'

Would you definitely have to be a native speaker in order to be capable of embarking on such a 'career', though?

In Thailand no, though the official rules do require a 'native speaker', nowadays there is such a huge unfilled demand schools can easily get exceptoins or get around the rule. However, you would very likely be excluded from the highly paid first tier jobs and confined to upcountry high schools at about $1,000/month (in fact the only native speakers who take such jobs are beery old sexpats and young Brits who have no actual degree).

(note: here looks matter a lot. They're quite racist, and prefer very white, especially blond, redheaded, etc., teachers. They also love to get younger people in high schools but particulary in grade schools. So, if you're young, good looking, blond haired, and Norweigian, you're better off than being an old shabby drunk from the unintelligible North of England)